Use BBQ Wood Chips to Intensify Your Grilling

There is nothing better then BBQ meat that has been cooked or smoked with wood chips. If you're a master BBQ chef, then you probably know the fine benefits of BBQ wood chips. However, lots of people don't have a clue why this product is so popular.

Wood chips are very small pieces of wood that are added to your BBQ to create smoke. If you're not already using wood to cook your food, the only way you're going to get true smoke flavor is to add wood to your grill fire.

Using BBQ wood chips can send your grilling into the stratosphere. Whether you have an electric, gas or charcoal BBQ you can add wood chips to get authentic barbecue flavor. There are special smoker boxes that can be placed in your gas and charcoal grills to add that special wood smoke flavor. Make sure you read the instructions for your grill before trying this.

The key to using wood chips is to not let them burn too quickly. This will cause strong bursts of smoke which will simply make your meat bitter. If you soak wood chips in water for about 15 minutes before you use them, you'll slow down their burn and make them smoke more. Before you use them, though, let the wood chips "drip dry" for a few minutes before you add them to your fire. Ideally, your wood chips will be damp but not saturated.

If you're using a smoker in your grill, it's probably not necessary to soak the wood chips before you use them. Soaked wood chips will burn longer, but if you're cooking a steak, you probably don't want a long, slow grilling.

You can get BBQ wood chips in a variety of flavors. They go from mesquite and hickory all the way to cabernet. The stores that sell BBQ wood chips will have flavor guides to help you wade your way through the new age of wood chips.

In general, the lighter the meat, the milder the wood chip you need to use. But it also doesn't hurt to experiment and try mesquite with chicken, just begin with fewer wood chips then you would normally use.

With its more delicate aroma, alder wood chips best accompany lighter meats like fish and poultry. Fruit wood chips are also mild and are best used with poultry, veal and pork. These types of woods include cherry or apple.

Hickory or maple wood chips are strongly flavored and should be used with poultry, pork or beef. Beef, duck and lamb go well with the strong mesquite wood chips, and oak, another strong flavor, is good with beef and ham.

Just remember that BBQ wood chips are a flavor enhancer and not the meal itself, so don't skimp on your meats. If you don't have a good piece of meat, there is no wood chip in existence that will make your meat taste any better. Make sure you have a good cut that is fresh and well prepared.

So the next time you decide to grill a great piece of meat consider using some of these BBQ wood chips and savor the great flavor and aroma coming off your grill.